help on extending my wireless LAN

Can I ask where you plan on doing this installation?

If you are doing this in your home, then I would suggest buying two of the powerline ethernet bridges (link: Netgear Ethernet Bridge ). Plug one in near your router/DSL setup. Then connect the other one at the location you want to put your access point. You can do this for multiple access points without ever having to run wiring. All you need to do is keep adding powerline ethernet bridges. Wireless bridges are painfully slow and not usually worth the hassle.

Let me know if the location is different.

That sounds like a good solution, hrana. Wireless bridges are sort of like using multiple wireless equiped notebooks to extend your range. Better to either use the powerlink as hrana suggests or run the cable.

As to your questions, bluejay, the new access points that plug into either the cable you run or the powerlinks or your wireless bridges will just adapt the exist SSID. I am not real familiar with wireless bridges. Here's some information that may be helpful :
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...ess_bridge.htm
http://www.hdcom.com/bridgekits.html

you can google for more.

But what I understand is usually the bridges have their own comm channel, separate from you WLAN SSID. It depends on the settings you select.

If you provide more information, might be able to help more. ie - how far apart are the aps going to be, how big an area are you trying to cover? What are you going to use this WLAN for?

Hey... no need to apologize for long posts, we were all there at one point in time.

Okay so they idea is that you have one room with your DSL/Cable modem. I assume you already have a router so multiple computers in that room can use your internet connection. That router should have ports in the back so you can connect computers via ethernet wires.

You should drop the idea of using wireless to wireless links to extend your network. Each access point is just that. Its is an access point to the network. When you use wireless routers to bridge distances, they end up using bandwidth to talk to each other to send data and then talk to their client machines (like your laptop) to access the internet. It is very slow in performance and usually very expensive to implement. Access points should get the ethernet connection by either you running a long wire from you router or using the powerline ethernet adapters which instead use your home's wiring (more on that below).

The way this works is that you buy those Netgear powerline ethernet bridges (the number to of powerline adapters to buy is: number of additional access points + 1 more for the room with the router).

You plug in those powerline adapters into the power socket and conncet the other end to the main router. What they do is turn your homes electrical wiring into an ethernet network. So what you do is the area you want another access point should have an electrical socket. Plug in your access point into the power socket and the powerline ethernet adapter as well. The ethernet cable connects on one side to the powerline adapter the other end connects to the access point's LAN port. Then set up the SSID on the Access Point the same as the rest of the access points. Set the channel to 1, 6, or 11 (try to space the channel selections out). Now, when you roam around the house, your wireless software will automatically find the best AP to connect to without you having to do it. This is probably the easiest way to take care of this issue without running wires.

That bridge/access-point should be running in Access point only mode. Turn off DHCP, DNS, etc. on it. Let your main router handle all of that. As for the Access point's IP address? I usually pick an IP to cluster then in together. So in my home the four access points are hard coded by hand in their web interface to 192.168.1.50 to 192.168.1.53. That way I know which one is which and they don't change IP addresses on me by using DHCP. Let me know if I left anything out.

I think you got it hrana, but I would add that if you have concrete walls and therefore need additional APs (Access Points) for your wireless, then obviously, wireless ethernet bridges aren't going to work either. They use the same signal, so they will be subject to the same limitations. So, yeah, you are going to have to either run cable, or use a powerline system such as hrana has described. These just plug into your house electrical system and use the wiring as an ethernet. Its been used for years with intercoms and phones, and they are using the same technology on a different scale to provide internet service over the power grid.

So, if you can return those bridges, either get the cable (ethernet cable) and hard wire a system or get the powerline adaptors and plug them in. Then connect the APs using the set SSID and the same channel as the rest of the system is using.

Just folks helping folks. We have the advantage of not having to sell something plus we already know we are complete idiots with nothing to lose or gain. We also have been there sometime in the past and know its nice to get real help. Hopefully you can pay it forward yourself sometime.

bluejay, keep us appraised on which direction you decide to take and give us info on how you ended up implementing everything. as always, ask away as you need help.


EDIT: I just realized something. If you decide to take the powerline adapter route, you should know that powerline adapters are capable of only 11mbps total throughput. If you decide to use 802.11g which is theoretically capable of 54mpbs, then transfers between uses of different access points will be limited. So if that is an issue, you will have to run ethernet cable with 100mbit ethernet to take full advantage of 802.11g. Although, you could always go the cheaper route with 802.11b which will be more than adequate for the powerline setup.

Also for those seeking more info, here is a diagram of how this works

http://catalog.belkin.com/Templates/...e/F5D4070.html

Another suggestion is getting a signal booster. A signal booster might work in this situation and its a cheap alternative to multiple access points. Normally the disadvantage of a signal booster is that it transmits your network well beyond the confines of your home. However, a 5 db boost will probably "burn" through the walls but not much beyond 200 ft (though depending upon location of placement and your neighborhood). A signal booster will cost between $35-$50 and can be found online and at large electronic stores (Frys CompUSA etc).

Best of luck either way.

Question? What kind of activity were you planning to use at the end points? Streaming media, web surfing, gaming? Depending on your anticipated usage, it might simply be better to bite the bullet and hardware your network through the attic, crawlspace or even through walls.